Public Service COI Commissioners will be paid – Harmon

By Jomo Paul

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Minister of State, Joseph Harmon has made it clear that the Commissioners appointed to the Public Service Commission of Inquiry (COI) will be paid for their work done.

The Commissioners – Professor Harold Lutchman, Sandra Jones and Samuel Goolsaran – when asked about their personal remuneration at a recent press conference to announce the commencement of the COI, were unable to provide a figure.

“I have not stipulated nor have I asked how much you are going to pay me. I don’t think that was a major concern for any of us here. We wanted to do a professional job in the interest of our country and the public interest,” Chairman Professor Lutchman had said.

But according to Harmon, a contract has been drafted for the Commissioners which stipulate therein what monies the Commissioners would be paid for their services. The Minister of State did not say how much money would be paid to the Commissioners.

“The draft contract is out…it’s just a matter of them signing it…there are already sums of monies set aside for paying these commissioners,” he said on Friday, September 18.

The Commission is expected to have a life of three to five months with the possibility of a renewal should the Commissioners feel the need for more time. The public hearings, which are opened to the general public for oral presentations, will be conducted at the Secretariat Building of the Public Service Ministry on Waterloo Street, Georgetown.